5X+ battery life for ultras

I have not run an ultra with my 5X Plus yet, but based on my experience with the fenix 3 and 5X, I would assume that those battery life numbers are:

1. Optimistic
2. Optical HR turned off
3. No external sensors connected
4. Bluetooth disabled
5. Not using navigation or displaying the map page
6. Not using any Connect IQ apps (watch face, widgets, data fields)
7. GPS only (no GLONAS or Galileo)
8. Smart Recording (vs 1sec recording)
9. Not in extremely cold weather

I typically run with GPS only mode and smart recording, especially for long ultras because otherwise the activity files are gigantic and syncing takes forever. For ultras up to 100k, the settings above have gotten me through the entire event without charging. For stuff that goes overnight I've always ended up just charging the watch using a small battery.

Thanks for the response. I certainly can't argue with #1!!

The manual states that the 33 hour figure is with "GPS mode with wrist-based heart rate" but that's all it says. Just got my watch today and will put it through it's paces this weekend on a 6-ish hour run/hike, and will report back. I'm guessing if I run with a strap the battery life will be extended a bit, as well.

I'd like to be able to finish a race like Leadville without stressing about battery life, somewhere in the 26-28 hour neighborhood.

Just a simple test (no real outdoor conditions)

put my 5x an 5x+ outside with free look to the sky, gps (only), temp sensor connected, tracking enabled and map page as main screen. Device was not moved during runtime.

5x: 14 hrs 15 min
5x+: 29 hrs 40 min

Of course the battery of the 5x is older, but did that test in early owning times of my 5x and didn’t get much more runtime.


With gps setting to UltraTrac you should get more battery time, but the data are less accurate. For this you should ask some people who have made experiences with this setting...

I would use the watch without IQ store stuff, because this stuff is often responsible for much more battery drain and other issues

14 hours for the 5x certainly aligns with my experience over several ultras. It was typically down to around 20% after roughly 12 hours. 29 hours out of the 5x+ is extremely encouraging.

For the record my fenix 3 typically went about 18 hours before getting down to 20% battery.

I've had my 5x+ for 10 days. Bluetooth is on, synced to my phone. Optical HR on. GPS set for every second. I've had 4.5 hrs of GPS activities with an HRM-TRI. I charged it to 100% when I got it, and it's down to 33% now.

Nobody’s battery life figures our anything but nonsense ????

On my 920XT a 24 hour watch with everything off but Smart and a HRM it made 15 and had 9% left the same day the Ambit 3 was setup in 30 hour mode and had 25% left at 15

The F3 and F3HR my current watches our similar but EASY to charge as the charge cradle can go on your wrist and this allows full use of the watch without worry

I don’t know what they were thinking with the new charge connector but it certainly is much harder to do this

If you don’t care about the GPS track then a footpod on ultratrack or indoor with no GPS is the only way to get the hours and useful information out of the watches without charging

lateralus - funny - I'm on a very similar path to you. I had the Fenix 5X, but got a little frustrated with some accuracy issues (getting short changed on elevation gains), so I got the Suunto 9 this week. Wanted to love it, but it doesn't offer enough to justify itself over the Fenix. Less features, less customizable, and no more accurate imo. That went back to REI yesterday.

I've just bought the Fenix 5X plus, which arrives tomorrow. Curious to see how the battery goes. Also whether the accuracy is better with improved hardware.

I'm also running Leadville, and have the same goal of getting it through the whole thing. FWIW - I did finish last year with the Fenix 5X, but had to charge it going up Hope, and again going up Powerline. The charging cable is pretty clunky - sticking out at right angles - so I had to use duct tape to make sure it didn't come unhooked. I'm probably going to stick a small USB battery and cable in the drop bag at outward bound - 'just in case', but would love to know the Fenix 5X plus has enough juice to get through the whole thing.

If you've learned anything the last few weeks on the battery - let me know. I was planning on having everything but GPS off. But I won't use ultra track. That sucks on the switch backs. Of which we have many... good luck !

I bought the newly released Suunto 9 because of the great battery life. But alas, I also need HR alerts (Maffetone HR training) and the sound made can barely be heard in a quiet forest (and I usually have headphones on anyway), plus the vibration is similar to a small fly landing on your hand. Thus, that's not going to work for me.

The stated battery life on the 5X+ for wrist HR and GPS is 32-33 hours, which I'll assume means at least 10% less. I haven't seen info on whether that 33 hours includes turning everything else off or whether there are options to turn things off and get more out of it. Ultratrac seems really inaccurate when I've used it before so I'm not sure if that's the answer unless it's gotten a lot better.

Also, I'm wondering if the heart rate cues have the ability to be broadcast over bluetooth so you can hear them in your earpods?

Thanks!

I use everything on my FX5Plus: HR, IQ connect widgets, fields, app and watchfaces, bluetooth... and I got 0.2% lost every hour when GPS/activity is turned off.
And 3% every hour when GPS+Glonass on with smart recording (not 1 sec) and the map displayed (North up)
It means in theory 33 hours of continuous GPS+Glonass use.

(I use the widget battery gauge BTW to measure the battery life.)

YMMV but this is mine. :-)